Contents

NEW STORY! NEW CREATIVE TEAM! Comics legend Peter David and up-and-coming artist Eric Nguyen bring a whole new HALO story to life! When the colony planet Ariel sends out a mysterious distress signal, it’s up to the UNSC’s elite, highly skilled special-ops Marines, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers from the 105th, to find out what’s happening. Also known as ODSTs or “Helljumpers,” these soldiers are some of the toughest in the galaxy…and some of the roughest as well. When the distress signal comes, two Helljumpers will find themselves at the center of the mystery on Ariel, and before it’s resolved, they’ll have to put their friendship and their lives on the line...

The story begins at an ODST drop above the planet Ariel, with information on the ODSTs' mission: to respond to a distress signal from the colony. The narrator, Romeo, talks about how they are always alone during a combat drop. The story then jumps back in time to an archaeological colony on the surface of the planet, where a doomed researcher escapes a deadly Covenant attack on the surface, stammering inside a structure to call for help.

Later, on a UNSC frigate, Romeo and another Marine talk about the Spartan project, with Romeo claiming that stories about them are fake. Another ODST, named Brimley, comes in and tells them of how his friend Langston was killed by a teenage Spartan severals years before, after he was bullied into fighting with four other ODSTs. Romeo laughs, making fun of Brimley's friend. The two get into a fight, which is soon broken up by Dutch. Their superior officer, Master SergeantFrost, soon intervenes and confines Romeo and Dutch to their quarters as a result of the fight.

The story then jumps back to the fight on Ariel. The ODSTs land, as Romeo talks about how Dutch and wife, Gretchen, met. A brief flashback, back at the ship, shows Dutch viewing a recorded video message from her. The scene cuts to the ODST squad regrouping at the main settlement of Ariel. They find that the area is desolate, with no signs of fighting or bodies left. The narrator expresses his surprise at this, commenting that it isn't how the Covenant usually operate. After finding Covenant footprints, the ODSTs find one lone civilian body in the colony's transmissions building. The story concludes with Romeo questioning the loneliness of the planet, and the words "To Be Continued..." at the bottom of the page.